Diana Taurasi, a three-time WNBA champion and the league’s all-time leading scorer, will miss the rest of the regular season with a quadruple strain, the Phoenix Mercury announced Monday, as the team battles to secure a spot in the playoffs in the last week.
Regarding the possibility of Taurasi returning for a potential playoff run, a Mercury spokesman said, “She will be out for the rest of the regular season and will provide more information if we make it to the playoffs.”
The team also said that Taurasi would be available to the media sometime this week.
Yvonne “Vonnie” Turner signed a hardship deal to fill Taurasi’s roster spot.
Taurasi’s 16.7 points and 3.9 assists per game were second best on the team behind Skylar Diggins-Smith’s 19.7 and 5.5. The former three-time UConn champion and five-time Olympic gold medalist last played Aug. 2, when she suffered the injury playing 11 minutes in a loss to Connecticut.
Taurasi had initially been listed as “questionable” heading into the Mercury’s most recent two games, and coach Vanessa Nygaard indicated before Saturday’s game against the New York Liberty that Taurasi was being evaluated that day to see if she could take the floor.
Phoenix is one of six teams fighting for three unclaimed playoff spots. Although the Mercury would have clinched the eighth and final playoff spot had the regular season ended Tuesday, the Liberty are just a half-game behind them, while the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks are a game behind with seven days remaining. in the regular season.
ESPN’s BPI gave the Mercury a 67.5% chance of making the playoffs, second-best of the six teams in the hunt, before news of Taurasi’s season-ending injury. Phoenix has three games left in the regular season, all at home: Wednesday against the Lynx, Friday against the Dallas Wings and Sunday against the defending champion Chicago Sky.
The Mercury, who parted ways with former head coach Sandy Brondello in the offseason following an appearance in the WNBA Finals, have had a rollercoaster year. Perennial All-Star Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia for bringing cannabis into the country and last week she was sentenced to nine years in prison. Former WNBA MVP Tina Charles – a free-agent acquisition last offseason – agreed to a buyout of her contract in late June and eventually signed with the Seattle Storm in hopes of winning a championship with them.
Other players have missed time due to injuries at various other points this season, and Kia Nurse has yet to take the court after tearing her ACL in last season’s playoffs. On Saturday, both Taurasi and Diggins-Smith missed the must-play game against the Liberty, where the Mercury finally pulled off a 76-62 upset.
Taurasi, who turned 40 in June, had struggled this season — particularly compared to his all-time play — both with his shooting efficiency and on the defensive end. But she has proven to be one of the most important postseason players in WNBA history, most recently helping propel the fifth-seeded Mercury to the WNBA Finals last season after dealing with sternum injuries, ankle and foot during the course of the summer. She is one of three players to record 500 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists this season, along with Sabrina Ionescu and teammate Diggins-Smith, and in July she became the first WNBA player with a 30-point game a 40 years or older.
Although he said before the season that he “plans to play for a while,” Taurasi will become a free agent after this season. She has played her entire career in Phoenix since she was drafted there in 2004.
